The real reason why Pam Geller was not invited to CPAC

I was given a link to Breitbart regarding the decision by CPAC not to give Pam Geller a seat at their CPAC convention. And I think I know why. And their names are David Keene, Grover Norquist and Suhail Khan. It is Norquist who is blamed for getting Geller kicked off of Newsmax. We will look at all the players in a bit. But first some background on an issue that was brought to the attention of FrontPage magazine on February 25, 2010. The articleis titled “CPAC Shills For Islamic Terrorists.” The interview is with Pam Geller of Atlas Shrugs and Front Page’s Jamie Glazov. I think that this interview describes perfectly the decision by CPAC to diss Geller and her group.

FP: This is mind-boggling. This is a conservative conference and one would think conservatives are interested in national security and protecting our liberties and American lives. Why do you think this happened?

Geller: I think CPAC’s agenda in 2010, as well as 2009 and before that, reflects the influence of Grover Norquist, the conservative powerhouse and kingmaker. He is a board member of the ACU, and from the looks of CPAC’s covered topics and omission of discussion of jihad, it looks as if he exerts enormous influence over David Keene, the ACU’s nominal leader. Norquist and his ally Suhail Khan seem to be in charge at CPAC — no CPAC event goes on that doesn’t reflect their perspective.

FP: Expand a bit on what perspective Norquist represents.

Geller: Jamie, Grover Norquist’s troubling ties to Islamic supremacists and jihadists have been known for years. He and his Palestinian wife, Samah Alrayyes, who was director of communications for his Islamic Free Market Institute until they married in 2005, are very active in “Muslim outreach.” Just six weeks after 9/11, The New Republic ran an expose explaining how Norquist arranged for George W. Bush to meet with fifteen Islamic supremacists at the White House on September 26, 2001 — to show how Muslims rejected terrorism. Wrote TNR author Franklin Foer:

Unfortunately, many of the leaders present hadn’t unambiguously rejected it. To the president’s left sat Dr. Yahya Basha, president of the American Muslim Council, an organization whose leaders have repeatedly called Hamas “freedom fighters.” Also in attendance was Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, who on the afternoon of September 11 told a Los Angeles public radio audience that “we should put the State of Israel on the suspect list.” And sitting right next to President Bush was Muzammil Siddiqi, president of the Islamic Society of North America, who last fall told a Washington crowd chanting pro-Hezbollah slogans, “America has to learn if you remain on the side of injustice, the wrath of God will come.”

It was Norquist who ushered these silver-tongued jihadists into the Oval Office after the worst attack ever on American soil. Don’t you think that the likes of Ibn Warraq, Bat Ye’or, and Wafa Sultan should have been advising the President instead of Hamas, Hizballah and the Muslim Brotherhood? But that wasn’t to be. So at that September 26 meeting Bush declared that “the teachings of Islam are teachings of peace and good.” It was a critically important, historic moment. What should have been the most important teaching moment of the long war became a propaganda tool for Islam. A singular historic opportunity was squandered, and the harm that has resulted is incalculable.

In 2011 on the House Floor Rep Frank Wolf (R –Va) had this to say about Grover Norquist:

I want to be clear: I raise these issues not just because Mr. Norquist’s associates may be unsavory people,” Wolf said. “There are many lobbyists in Washington who represent clients of all stripes and backgrounds. But my concern arises when the appearances of impropriety are raised over and over again with a person who has such influence over public policy. That, I believe, should give any fair-minded person pause.

Here is the CSPAN Video of his remarks.The clip starts at 13:47 and his remarks end at 18:15.

Frank Gaffney prepared a dossier on Norquist and Suhail Khan, The article is titled “A Jihadist in the Heart of the Conservative Movement.” The article is dated January 2011/

Lets see what Frank Gaffney had to say about Grover Norquist in Oct 2012.

Now onto Suhail Khan. I’ll let the video do the talking.

And here is David Horowitz calling out Grover Norquist and Suhail Khan at the Feb 2011 CPAC. Skip ahead to the 5:00 minute mark.

Linked here is Ken Timmerman’s FrontPage article on the same two subjects.

I think you get the idea. But there is one last player to cover. He is David Keene. This is Robert Spencer talking about the John Zeigler video which you can see after the article.

Oct 2009 – Jihadwatch – …The Ziegler video, with its depiction of Keene’s egregious behavior, gives a good opportunity to spotlight the failure of the conservative mainstream to deal with the jihad issue. David Keene is not only the head of the ACU, but also of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which I criticized in Newsweek last February for its Grover Norquist-mandated refusal to deal with the jihad or Islamic supremacism in any meaningful or effective way.

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I didn’t know it at the time, but after I was interviewed by Newsweek and before their article appeared, Keene decided to honor Wilders at CPAC and give him an award. But when the Newsweek piece hit, with quotes from me as well as David Horowitz saying, “How is it possible that a conservative conference does not have a single panel on the threat from radical Islam?,” Keene was furious. He was so furious that he canceled the award for Wilders and refused to let him speak at all, saying he wasn’t going to look as if he was being pushed around by Robert Spencer. Suddenly a few remarks in Newsweek by David Horowitz and me were controlling David Keene’s world. Principles? Free speech? Jihad and Islamization? Pah. For Keene, it was just a schoolyard fight, and he was behaving like a schoolyard bully — as he does here with Ziegler.

Here is the Zeigler Video. John Zeigler is a libertarian former talk show host and now a political speaker and documentarian. He has issues with Keene over his criticism of Sara Palin, support for Arlen Spector and a quid pro quo with Fedex. Video is from Oct 2009.

WND – The American Conservative Union reported to the Internal Revenue Service last month a “material diversion of the organization’s assets” totaling over $400,000. The group has an annual operating budget of about $1.5 million.

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While directors have been tight-lipped about the details, sources say Keene’s ex-wife, Diana, was fired earlier this year as bookkeeper when the misappropriations were discovered. On its 2009 tax return, signed Nov. 8, 2010, by Executive Vice President Dennis E. Whitfield, the American Conservative Union disclosed the apparent embezzlement. The organization became aware in May 2010 of a diversion of assets for the year [ending] December 31, 2009,” the ACU disclosed on its 990 reports filed with the IRS. The authorities were notified and the issue is now in the hands of the assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Conclusion: CPAC and the ACU are bought and sold for money and influence. Worse still, they are under the heavy influence of people that want to destroy this nation. Pam Geller isn’t the problem. Time to oust Keene, Khan, and Norquist, otherwise I think I agree with John Zeigler. I want no part of CPAC or the ACU.

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